This Thanksgiving season, your students can enjoy making their own gratitude journals. To make the journals, you’ll need:

Colored cardstock (one piece per student)

Plain white copy paper (3 per student)

Hold punch

Yarn or brads

Scissors

Markers, pens, or crayons

Old magazines (optional)

1. To begin, have each student choose a piece of colored cardstock. This will be the cover of the book.

2. Next, fold the cardstock in half, making it 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. Do the same for the copy paper.

3. Slip the copy paper into the cardstock, creating a “book.”

4. Using a single hole punch, punch 2 holes along the folded edge of your book, one at either end.

5. Cut a piece of yarn per student approximately 30 inches in length. Have the students thread the yarn through the holes, running it through twice. Tie the two ends together and cut any excess yarn.

Or, if you prefer, you can use brads instead. Simply slide a brad through each hole and fasten them from the back.

6. Have the students decorate the cover of their journals with markers or crayons. Encourage them to be creative in their designs. Since this is a personal gratitude journal, instruct each student to create a design that represents him or her.

7. On each page, have the students write about things they are thankful for. They might include illustrations with their writing; they might write a poem or a descriptive paragraph. Younger students can search through magazines and cut out pictures of things they are grateful for.

Remind your students that no two journals will look the same — they will all be as individual as the students themselves!